PM to Say ‘Two-State Solution’ is Urgently Needed

A planned statement refers to an ‘urgent need’ for the ‘two-state solution.’ Netanyahu: I didn’t read it yet.

By Maayana Miskin

First Publish: 6/12/2013, 10:36 AM

PM Binyamin Netanyahu

Flash 90

A statement prepared for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and an Israeli delegation expressed strong support for the “two-state solution.”

Netanyahu and five ministers are leaving Wednesday on a trip to Poland, where they will meet with Polish leaders and inaugurate a memorial site at Auschwitz.

In advance of the visit, Israel published a statement which the Israeli delegates are to make following the meeting.

The statement reads, “There is an urgent need to promote the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The two governments agree on the urgent need to promote the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through direct negotiations, without preconditions.”

The phrase “without preconditions” could indicate a diplomatic victory for Netanyahu in his efforts to convince Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to drop his pre-negotiation demands. Abbas is insisting that Israel release imprisoned terrorists, allow the PA police to arm itself more heavily, and forbid any and all construction in Israeli communities east of the 1949 armistice line as preconditions for negotiations.

On Wednesday morning, Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio) asked officials in the Prime Minister’s Office to explain the practical implications of the call to “promote the two-state solution.”

They were told in response that the Prime Minister could not yet respond because he has not yet reviewed the exact phrasing of the statement. The office of National Security Adviser Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror reported that Amidror, too, is not yet familiar with the details of the statement, which was written by his staff.